Dinobot need Friends!
by BeastRage the Hunter
Summary: "What'd you mean you don't know where I live? Just exactly how are you planning to get me home?" "Swoop sorry. Just want to see Kendra." "Great...what now?" G1 based.
1. Chapter 1

I know I just finished one story and have plenty of others to work on, but I came up with this idea that now suddenly appears a lot dumber on paper (or, err, computer screen) than in my brain. Hopefully you'll like my attempt to give the poor lonely Dinobots some more love. (There are hardly any stories about them that are more than one-shots or don't involve Ratchet/Wheeljack in some way). There will be no pairings in this, and if you 'see' any, those are just there to poke fun.

Dinobot characterizing is mostly based off of the oneshot _Vigil. _I suggest you go read it.

Now, let _Dinobot need Friends _begin! Mwahahaha!

* * *

"Grimlock not listen!" "Grimlock!" "NOT LISTEN!" "GRIMLOCK!" Half of the denizens on the Ark winced, foreseeing worse to come. And sure enough, they're not wrong.

Ratchet made his way towards the Dinobot in front of him, waving a wrench in the air. One of the warning signs. Then it happens. "GRIMLOCK! YOU WILL LISTEN TO ME, PRIMUS SO HELP ME, OR I WILL REFORMAT YOU INTO GLITCHING TOASTER!" The metal T-Rex stared wide-eyed at the Autobot medic, a rarity. "Grimlock listen now." He growled, clearly convening he's not happy with it. "Good. It's time for your check-up." "Grimlock no like stupid check-ups." Ratchet scowled, going over to the counter to examine a few tools. "I don't care if you like them or not, you're going to have one. The rest of your team has already done so. Now it's your turn."

"Ha. That why Slag so mad." Ratchet turned, holding out a scanner. "Just stay still, Grimlock."

Later...

Grimlock stomped back to the Dinobot part of the ship. Already angered about the check-up, his mood was further worsened by the various insults and jokes flying around about how a Dinobot is comparable to a Decepticon. Yet somehow, he managed to get back without destroying anything or anyone on the way. A nice achievement that most mechs on the Ark would think is impossible for him to accomplish.

Inside, Snarl and Slag are fighting. Again. Loud roars and growls echoed throughout the area. Grimlock was no mood to deal with it. Coming into the fight, he used his body mass to knock the two away from each other. Snarl wnet off by himself to go sit next to Sludge, watching the entire situation. Even Slag backed off, recognizing that the Dinobot leader is in a _mood. _Only one Dinobot ignored the warning signs, flying down from his perch above. Swoop.

Grimlock snarled at the flyer, but was ignored yet again. "Don't worry, one day Swoop find nice human." The Dinobot promised. "Soon."

"Swoop stupid. Why find human?" Slag growled. Swoop didn't answer for a second, bending back to 'preen' his wings. Then the answer came. "Autobots need see Dinobots not bad. Think bad, but not bad. Finding nice human mean not bad to Autobots." "Why care?" "Cuz mean Dinobots not made fun of." Swoop looked up with a pleading look in his optics. "Please?"

Grimlock thought about it. He finally consented. "Fine. Swoop can find nice human." Of course, the Dinobot leader didn't really believe that the flier would find such a thing. But then, he had underestimated the determined Dinobot in the past. Still a big maybe, though...

* * *

I frowned at the contrite computer screen in front of me. No matter what I tried, it only kept blaring warnings. Finally I threw my hands up in the air and turned to my father sitting next to me.

"Fine, I give up. What 'd I do?" He looked at me, his blue eyes full of unreadable emotion. "It's easy. All you do is-" I tune out the rest of his explanation, knowing I wouldn't understand it anyway. I was no computer genius, despite various attempts made by my family members to teach the way of the hard-drive.

I watched my father as he waved a hand at various things on the screen, black hair falling over into his eyes. I may share the black hair the rest of the family has, but I'm the only one with brown eyes. I smirked a little at that thought. _Great, another way I can stand out,_ I think sardonically to myself.

"-and then you- are you even listening?" "Huh?" I shot up, almost falling over. Dad chuckled at the sight. "I guess not, huh?" "Sorry Dad, but it sorta put me to sleep." I attempt to explain my not listening. "I can see that." He looked me up and down. I kept quiet, not sure what to expect at the moment. He gave a final nod to something only he can see, and says, "Go ahead and mess around with your brother." A disbelieving look showed up on my face and he laughed. "I know Alec's been dying to show you his newest Pokemon card."

That's all I need. I take off down the hallway, giving a cursory glance back at my father still at the computer. From what I can see in the reflection, he seems...disappointed. I feel a twinge of disappointment myself. _You'll never be a computer geek like everyone else in your family is and has been for generations, _A small spiteful voice whispers in my mind. I shake it off. _I can still do it. Still try. _

"Sis! Hey sis!" Alec, my adorably annoying little brother showed up on the scene. Another smile graced my lips and this time it's a real one, determined to stay. I attempted to it form into a frown, but it's already too late. Alec caught sight of it and his grin grew even wider, if that's possible. "Lookit, lookit! I got a _Mew card!" _I knew what that is (Alec is a huge Pokemon bluff, making sure the rest of us know it too), but attempted to play dumb anyway. "Really? Is that the fire dragon one?" "No, that's Charizard. Mew's the little pink cat." He informed me, in a slight pout.

The smile snuck its way back to my face. Alec gaped at me, bright electric blue eyes wide. "You _knew!" _"Sure did." I started laughing, finally giving in to that fatal urge. "Attack!" He leaped on top of me on the floor, small fingers seeking out my ticklish spots. "HahahahaPleaseStop!" I beg. "Never!" "ButICan'tBreathe!" I gased desperately for breath. "Really?" My brother paused in his mad tickling. That's when I struck, turning the tables on him in a quick instance. "Now I'm the Tickle Monster!"

An Hour Later...

I was out of breath. But that's ok, cuz Alec was too. We laid next to each other like dying fish. "Dinnertime...what are you two doing?" My mother walked in. Well, I couldn't really see her face, but I could tell by her pointy black heels next to my head. "Tickling each other." Alec piped up first. "Hmm. It's time to eat."

We raced to the table, Mom close behind. Never mind she's not running, she moves pretty fast in her long stride. Dinner is a simple chicken salad. I paused before taking a seat. _Uh-oh. _Chicken salad, in our house means bad news. Well, bad news for me usually. Not sure about everyone else.

"So, Mom...what's the news?" She looked surprised. "How can you tell, Kendra?" I gestured to the table. "Chicken salad." "Ah." She nodded, fully aware of my phobia of the creation. It took a while, but eventually we are all seated around the chicken salad. For a while everything was normal. Alec chatted Dad's ear off about his Mew card while Dad checked the newest texts on his phone, only half listening. Mom stabbed one of the chicken pieces on her plate with the precision of a surgeon. I, well I just stared at my plate, waiting for the dreadful news to be given. Sure enough, I wasn't disappointed.

"Well..er..." Dad cleared his throat, before glancing over at Mom. She rolled her eyes. "Kendra, I will be gone for a couple days on a business trip. Since yor father will also be gone and Alec will be over at a friend's house, you will be coming with me." I sat there in silence. "Well?" "Why do I have to come? I'm _way _older than Alec and can stay home by myself." "You are coming and that's that. You might need it for future job experience." Mom tried appealing to my better nature. Too bad, because at the moment I didn't have one. What I did have, however, was desire to not get grounded when I got back. I would cooperate, I decided.

"Where are we going?" Mom flinched. I knew she was expecting me to argue and was shocked that I didn't. "We're going to a new dam that's been built up north. Pack for a few days because the programming for it might take longer than usual." Hooray.


	2. Chapter 2

The dam wasn't anything extraordinary. It was just a normal sized dam, that for some reason, required the extra touches of my famous computer programmer mother.

I bit my lip, watching all the nerds fawn around Mom. (Real ones! One was even wearing suspenders, for goodness' sake.) She was, I admitted, still pretty good-looking, for all the facts that she had married and had kids. I didn't want men flocking around her, but there was nothing I could do about it. Like how I could do anything useful here.

Sighing, I sat down on the concrete floor and took out one of my sketchbooks. Doodling is my forte, I thought to myself. I was a far better drawer than computer geek. I was just putting finishing touches on my picture of nerdy owl (which may or may have not been based on one of the people following Mom around), when alarms blared. Before I knew what was going on, my Mom was over here next to me, tugging on my arm to make me get up. "Kendra! We have to leave now." There was a look of panic in eyes. I did a double-take. _Mom was scared? Mom's never scared, never. _

"Mrs. Ashby, maybe you should-" The worried nerd was cut off. "No! I'm not leaving my daughter to _them!" _The entire time I was just sitting there, in a mixture of disbelief and shock. What was going on here? My Mom pulled me to my feet and started to drag me to the exit. I went along with it, trying to keep up with her stride, but then I realized something. I had left my sketchbook behind!

"Noo!" Shaking my hand free of Mom's grip, I dived for the sketchbook. Mom tried to go back for me, but was stopped by the combined might of the other workers running in the same direction. Before long, I was alone in the dam side building (I know how you'll read that, but it was!). Picking up the sketchbook, I turned just in time to witness a side wall get blown to pieces.

Before long, things that appeared to be giant robots stepped through. Robots with a strange purple symbol on their chest. My eyes widened. Decepticons!

* * *

Jazz was in midst playing a prank. But this time, upon the master pranksters themselves. Sunstreaker and Sideswipe. He carefully, carefully made his way up into the rafters with his load of paint-filled balloons. Sooner or later, the twins would walk through that door and they were going to get a nasty surprise when they did.

Well, Sunstreaker would try to kill him after it all but it would be worth it. He heard the door open and peeked over to see who it was. Jazz sighed, seeing it wasn't either of his targets and settled down to wait. The alarm suddenly went off. "BLARR! BLARR! DECEPTICON ALERT! BLARR! BLARR!" For the first time in his career, the master spy lost his balance. He fell, arms still full of paint balloons.

Right on top of Prowl. Splat.

When Ironhide opened the door a few seconds later, he saw Jazz lying on top of Prowl, both mechs covered in bright purple and neon green splatters. "Get up, lovebirds!" The older mech barked. Prowl, already on edge of collapse thanks to the unexpected (and illogical) arrival of Jazz, glitched. Jazz groaned. His processor was going to ache for weeks...he hoped the Decepticons would be easy to handle this time.

* * *

Skywarp was confused. It wasn't really a new state for him to be in, but he had a real reason to be this time. Because, really, what the logical response to an alien robot? To run and scream in fear. But this human had done something different. Instead of running, it merely curled up on the floor, talking to itself. Strange.

"Skywarp, what are you doing?" Thundercracker sighed, turning towards his trine-mate. SKywarp pointed at the organic. "Watching the fleshy." "What!?" Thundercracker's optics narrowed, looking down towards the human. "That's weird..."

Seeing his trine-mates standing around doing nothing, Starscream made his way over, only to confronted with the same confusing sight. He stood there for a moment, before commanding, "Just kill the glitching thing already."

* * *

"This isn't happening..." I chanted to myself. "Not happening." There was something moving closer to me, I could feel the vibrations through the floor. "Not happening." Rumbling...someone was talking. "Not happening." More vibrations, more robots? "Not happening." I only caught the last part of their conversation. "Just kill the glitching thing already." They were going to kill me...I was dead. For much for it not happening.

I pressed my body closer to the ground, eyes closed, preparing for the end. My face felt vibrations through the concrete, just like before. Only this time, the vibrations were more intense and closer together. _What?_

"Autobots!" One of robots near me, the screechy one that said to kill me, speaks. "I told you, Lord Megatron. We should have left with the energon we already had!" The answer to that challenge (even I could tell that was a challenge) came fast enough. "Shut up Starscream and fight!"

It sounded like gunfire. I looked up briefly, long enough to see the two robots that had been staring at me transform into jets, lasers flying past them. My head went back down and I shut my eyes, waiting for a stray laser to hit me. What I didn't expect, was suddenly being picked by something. I finally opened my eyes. Looking up, I saw a _dinosaur_ holding me in its claws. Well, in one of them. The other was balancing itself on the ground.

My scream was drowned out by the sounds of battle.

But not entirely. The huge freakin' metal dinosaur's eyes studied me with an air of curiosity. "Don't scream." It _talked. _"Swoop help you." It _talked. _I guess, in retrospect, I shouldn't have been so surprised. It was a _robot _dinosaur, not a regular dead extinct one. Before I worried about anything else, my attention was caught by my book, still on the floor. "Um, excuse me, dinosaur?" "Name Swoop." Was its reply, still watching me. "Ok, uh Swoop, can I please get that book down there? Please?"

"Swoop help." It reached its head down toward the same red cover. "No, wait! Stop!" Too late. Its 'beak' sniped the sketchbook in half. "Oops. Sorry human." I should have been angry or scared. I wasn't. Instead I felt...sorry for the huge metal monster that somehow looked so pitiful. _Swoop, _I corrected myself. "It's ok, I'll just get a new one." _Pity, though. I had a few sketches that looked pretty good. _

"Ok? Swoop ok?" It just looked so happy from that remark. So happy that I said it was ok. "Yeah, you're...ok. For a big metal dinosaur." "Swoop not dinosaur. Swoop Dinobot." "Dinobot. Got it. Could you please put me down?" To my disappointment, Swoop shook its head. "No, too dangerous for human right now." It explained, looking regretful. "I can get that."

I just sat there in a claw of a dinosaur. Oops, sorry Dinobot. While there was all this fighting around me, I somehow felt safe. Was it because Swoop hadn't announced any plans to maim or kill me? No, I decided, there was more than that. A look in its eyes seemed to scream _"I'm a big softie!" _It seemed like a guy...he reminded me of my brother_. __I miss you so much, Alec. _

* * *

Swoop looked down at the little human shivering in his claw. He knew he should be helping to fight back the Decepticons, but didn't this human girl need his help even more than his fellow Autobots did? She was nice and had said he was ok. No one else ever said he was ok. He liked being ok. It was better than being a dumb Dinobot.

He felt a strange wetness on his claw. Startled, he saw that the human had something leaking from her optics. Tears, Swoop thought they were called. "You ok, human?" She didn't answer. He asked again. "Human, you ok?" The girl finally answered. "I'm missing my brother," She confessed. "I want to see him again. Not die." "Swoop make sure you not die. Promise." "Really?" For the first time, the Dinobot beheld the human's face directly, as it turned up towards his, tear stains on her cheeks.

Her optics were the color of dirt here on Earth. Not blue or red like other Cybertronians. The tendrils on her head (a quick recall of interactions with Spike informed him it was called hair) were colored black like Earth skies at night.

His thoughts on her appearance were interrupted by the girl herself. "I shouldn't trust you cuz you're a big robot and everything and could kill me. But somehow I...do." She seemed vaguely confused by this thought.

At that moment Swoop came to a decision. He wanted his teammates to meet this nice human.


	3. Chapter 3

I don't know when I drifted off. I just know that I did from a combination of the leftover of outright panic and missing my family. A brief escape from reality.

_"Why are you holding my daughter!?" "Swoop help her." "Put her down! RIGHT! NOW!" "Now, Mrs. Ashby, I believe that Swoop did no harm-" "I DON'T CARE! JUST PUT HER DOWN!"_ I smiled in my sleep. This sure was an interesting dream. Not to mention that was probably how my mom would really react when she would find me in a grip of a giant metal robot.

"Wake up, Kendra." I blearily opened my eyes to see my mother hovering over me, usually impeccable appearance in disarray. "Thank goodness, I thought that maybe that dinosaur had injured you in some way." "Wait, that really happened?" "What really happened?" I thought better about telling her about my 'dream'. "Um, never mind."

"I'm sorry about your sketchbook. We can go pick out a new one." Mom was never this nice. What happened...oh. "Mom, please don't tell me we have to stay longer to help with repairs." She actually looked guilty for a change. "The programming didn't have enough time to take before the attack. They want me to come again to reprogram it, with a few extra additions." "Extra additions." "Further warning for Decepticons. _Apparently _they might come back." It seemed like Mom didn't think the alien robots would come back, Autobots or Decepticons. Neither did I.

Boy, was I wrong.

* * *

Swoop woke up from recharge. He flapped his wings, airing them out after a night on top of the dirt. He _could _have gone back to the Ark with the other Autobots...but he wanted to find the human girl that had been so nice. A review of the memories of the previous day revealed that her name was Kendra. Kendra. Swoop liked that name. It was _so human. _

With the active memory revival going on, Swoop also relived some other events.

_"Of course, Mrs. Ashby." For the first time in a while, Prowl looked a little awkward. And embarrassed "Swoop, would you mind putting the girl down." Swoop stomped his foot, an uncharacteristic move for the normally calm Dinobot. "Swoop like human. Human nice." "You still have to put her down." Swoop gave a huff of frustration. As well as a curt reply. "Fine." He carefully laid the sleeping human down. She muttered in her sleep and turned over._

_"Good." The lady (Swoop dubbed her She-Grimlock in his processor) nodded. She-Grimlock tried to pick up her daughter, failing to even get her up a few inches. She gave a huff of frustration. "I could help?" Bluestreak offered, shifting from one pede to the other nervously. For a second it looked like She-Grimlock would say no. "Fine." Bluestreak transformed into his alt-mode, door held out in an inviting way. The woman dragged her offspring to the vehicle, somehow put her inside and Bluestreak drove away to sound of commanding instructions.  
_

_Swoop felt empty, even though he had only known the organic for a few moments. A few battle-stricken minutes, that was all. Yet somehow his spark missed the human who had said he was 'ok', didn't mind his accidental destruction of her paper book (not much), and told him the real reason for her tears. He liked her.  
_

The flier shook his helm, clearing the last of the memories away. His optics glistened with sadness. He _missed _the human. Slag was going to tease him for that when he got back. A new idea formed within his processor. What if he found Kendra again? Surely she would be glad see him again as well?

His loud take-off shriek scared birds for miles around. Several of the feathered creatures pooped on the ground right under their perches.

* * *

I scowled, wiping the droplets of bird poop off of the green cover of my new sketchbook. Well, tried to wipe them off. A few were going to stick, and stay for _good. _Mom had seen fit to honor one of my requests for once (to stay at the park near the hotel instead of coming with her to the dam). As well as getting the new book for me. My thought on the matter? _She still feels guilty for leaving me to the big robots, even though it wasn't her fault. _I snapped the book open and began to draw to take my thoughts off Mom.

I growled, erasing yet another pencil line. At the rate this was going, I would run out of eraser before I managed to draw Swoop. By pure memory, fancy that. I was failing miserably. What I needed was to actually see the Transformer sitting in front of me to make it look perfect. As perfect as it could get. Of course, that was never going to happen. Seeing the Dinobot again, I mean. Not making a good picture. Though that was particularly impossible at the moment without a model.

_Decepticons..._ I shivered. It had been pure luck that I had not died that day, pure luck that I had been picked by an Autobot before I got squished or exploded. I had barely escaped, with my notebook being the only casualty. I knew, in my mind, that the chances of ever seeing Decepticons again, face-to-face, were astronomical, but I couldn't convince my heart otherwise.

A tree creaked behind me. I looked up. It was the last move I made before getting swept up into the air, clutching my sketchbook. "I hate you, Fate!"

* * *

Swoop found the little human in no time. After he picked her up, things got strange. Or stranger. "Who Fate?" He interrupting one of her tirades at this 'Fate' person. "Fate's not a who, it's a what...oh no." Kendra finally realized who held her. "Swoop!" "Yep, Swoop here." The Dinobot said proudly. "You have to put me down!" Kendra began wriggling, trying to get out of Swoop's claws. "My mom is going to kill me. And Alec will miss me, with Dad." "Kendra can meet other Dinobots first before home." "There are more of you?" Swoop thought about that for a little bit, wings laboring to move him through the air. "There Grimlock, Slag, Snarl, and Sludge. All Dinobots like Swoop."

The human was silent for a moment. She spoke again. "So, after I see them, I can go home, right?"

* * *

"What'd you mean you don't know where I live? Just exactly how are you planning to get me home?" I shouted. "Swoop sorry. Just want to see Kendra." "Great...what now?" That was the question of the day. How was I going to get home after this fiasco was over and done with? Mom must be so worried, worried enough to kill me when she saw me again. _If she sees you again. _The little nasty voice whispered.

Swoop apparently thought we were spending too time on the subject. "Don't worry, Swoop find your home after meet other Dinobots!" _Might as well enjoy the ride. _


	4. Chapter 4

Swoop carried me the entire way to who-knows-where. I didn't drop my sketchbook, by the way. Thanks for asking. _You can draw him now! He's here! _A little mind voice squealed.

"We're here!" The Dinobot seemed even happier than before, if that was possible. He had chatted to me the entire time in the air. If anyone had been listening, I'm pretty sure they would thought they were insane. I wasn't even sure if _I_ was sane, at this point. "Where's here?" "The Ark." He said simply.

The Ark...wasn't that name of the Autobot ship that had crash-landed on Earth? That was a lot of orange. Who had painted this thing with such a bright, obnoxious color? I would have thought that being in the middle of a war and all, the Autobots wouldn't have painted their ship such a look-at-me color. Seriously, even I, a puny human, could see it from high up in the air. Any enemy could easily take it out.

_Why are you even thinking about that? _I shook my head. Right, focus on being carried by flying metal robot to meet the rest of his 'team'. Somehow I doubted they would be so welcoming. Before we even got close to the base, Swoop turned from a straight course towards the ship for one a further off course. "Why are we not going straight there?" "Take safer way." For the first time, Swoop sounded...nervous. Did this mean he didn't have permission for grabbing me out of nowhere? Judging by previous insights on the Autobots' overall character (they did save humans pretty much every day, after all), I wasn't surprised.

_I really want time after this to draw Swoop. He owes me._

* * *

Grimlock growled. Swoop was missing. _Again. _The rest of the Autobots had come back, but Swoop hadn't. When questioned about it, the most any of them could do was give a helpless shrug or shake of the helm. That meant that the flier was probably playing around somewhere. _He better not bring back weird pink trees like last time..._

"Hi Grimlock!" And there was the famed Dinobot himself. Something dropped to the floor from his claws, but Grimlock wasn't interested in whatever Swoop had brought home now. "Swoop, why not come back right away?" "Busy!" The T-Rex rolled his optics. "Swoop _never _busy." He reminded the other Dinobot under his command.

The little thing that Swoop had dumped on the floor started making noises. Curious, Grimlock stepped closer, examining it. His optics narrowed once he realized what he was seeing. He turned on the flier. "Swoop! No take humans!"

* * *

I laid on top of the metal floor Swoop dropped me on. Opening my eyes, I saw a...metal T-Rex? A being even bigger than Swoop had seemed. _I guess this is one of the other Dinobots he was talking about meeting? _"Hi Grimlock!" I rolled my eyes at Swoop's cheerful tone. Judging by this 'Grimlock's' body language, he wasn't too happy seeing Swoop.

I took a pencil out of the binding of the sketchbook. Flipping open to an empty page, I began drawing the barest outline of the T-Rex in front of me. Something about the guy just made me want to press harder on the pencil tip, however. Eventually, the inevitable happened. The lead broke. "No!" A shadow came over me. I looked up, up into Grimlock's blue eyes, right before his head moved towards Swoop instead. He didn't look happy. "Swoop! No take humans!"

Someone picked me up. I yelped, before realizing it was Swoop. "This Kendra." Grimlock looked unamused. "Why human here?" "Because Swoop here thought it would be a fine idea to make me meet the rest of the Dinobots!" I interjected. The T-Rex turned his imposing view on me again. _Maybe speaking out wasn't such a fine idea. _But he didn't kill me, or maim me, or anything like that. Instead, the notebook on the floor caught his attention. "What this?"

"Um...my sketchbook?" At his incomprehension, I changed my word choice. "A book that I draw in?" At that, Grimlock's look of confusion cleared. _Someone needs to teach these guys something about humans..._ "Draw what?" Now Swoop, my kidnapper, was interested. "Anything, I suppose." "Draw Swoop!" With that, he dumped me onto the floor next to the green book. "Sorry, no can do. My pencil's broken." I explained, holding up before-mentioned object. "Swoop find new pencil."

Before he could take off, I waved my arms frantically. "Wait! I just need a knife or something to fix it. Not a new pencil." Judging by Grimlock's reaction to me, I was pretty sure that I wasn't supposed to be here. Who knew how the other Autobots would react to me? No, the best thing to do was lay low and just meet the other Dinobots. Curse me for saying so, but I was curious about what these guys were actually like. Not to mention the other Dinobots I hadn't even met yet.

"Human sharpen?" A hunk of metal thumped down next to me, shaking me out of my thoughts. "Er, sure?" I looked at the T-Rex, and noticed a strange hole in the wall, where something seemed to be missing. If I didn't know better, I would have sworn that the Dinobot had just torn a piece out of the wall, just so I could draw Swoop.

It took very little time. The pencil was pointy in no time. I carefully turned back to my previous attempt at drawing Swoop. I drew, self-conscious of the fact that both of the huge robots were watching me do so. With the actual Dinobot in front of me, I completed the picture with considerable ease compared to before. I turned it to show them.

Silence. I snuck a peek. Swoop seemed pleased...but what about Grimlock? He grunted. "Look like Swoop." Did he just sound...amazed? "Do other pictures?" "Yes?" I wished I didn't sound so unsure.

"GRIMLOCK!" Something crashed through what appeared to be a doorway of some sort. A huge...triceratops? It noticed me. Lowering its head, it shouted. "Human!"


	5. Chapter 5

AN: Thanks to EmoPirateLuv, Faerie Seer, and tamersten for reviewing. Enjoy the rest of the story!

* * *

Before I got squished, I closed my eyes. Call me a coward, but I didn't want to see the end. Only...the end didn't come. "No smashing human, Slag." I heard Grimlock inform someone in a no-nonsense tone of voice. What kind of name was Slag? Granted, Grimlock and Swoop were strange names, but Slag? Really?

The first thing I noticed when I opened my eyes was there was more than just Slag that was new to the party here. A long-necked dino and a stegosaurus were here as well. "Ooh, Human!" The bigger of the two newbies stuck his head down where I was. His head was bigger than my entire body, I couldn't help but notice. "Gah!" "Don't scare Kendra, Sludge." Swoop chirped. Sludge (where did they get these names, for heaven's sake?) grunted, a little sadly I thought, but moved his head a little further away from me.

"Meet Sludge, Snarl and Slag." Swoop introduced me, pointing at the corresponding Dinobot with each name said. My attacker was Slag, Sludge I knew, and that left the Stegosaurus Snarl by default. Each of the Dinobots responded differently to this human in their midst. Slag left, growling what I was sure were swear words under his breath, Snarl didn't seem to care at all, just shrugging before following Slag, leaving Sludge with the only positive reaction to me.

I sat down. Well, it was more like I fell down flat on my butt, my legs finally giving out from underneath me. Too much had happened today, and now that the danger was over, I was _exhausted. _"Kendra, what wrong?" The flier put his eye close to me, looking more than a little worried. "I just...need...a...nap..." A yawn, I was gone.

* * *

Grimlock wasn't sure why he had saved the human. It wasn't the fact that the Autobots would take it as another sign that Dinobots were untrustworthy monsters. It would be most likely that the incident would have never made it to any of them, since Swoop had brought the human in without authorization.

It happened almost automatically. He stopped Slag from squishing it without even thinking about it. Why? He didn't know. Maybe it was the fact that would have crushed Swoop to see that happen to the human...

He shook his helm, growling as he did so. He didn't want to think about the human right now. Of course, that's when he tripped over Sludge's tail on the floor. Normally Grimlock would have avoided it with ease, but he had been trying not to think of the human. The Dinobot leader turned to unleash his pending rage on the Brontosaurus, only to get interrupted by said Dinobot. "Shhh." What?

Sludge gestured with his head to his right side, from where he was leaned up against the wall. It took a few seconds to register a sleeping human laying there. Not any human, Swoop's human. Even as he watched, the human shifted, groaning in its sleep. There was something almost cute about it. _Cute? _What was he doing, applying that word to the human?

Just seeing it made him feel tired. Grunting, Grimlock made his way to his berth, nudging Sludge's tail closer to the human, out of his path.

* * *

"Wake up!" I jolted out of my dreamless sleep. "What the..!" "Kendra awake now." That was Swoop, sounding _way _too pleased. "Sure I am." I lifted my head, finding myself next to Sludge. "Sludge, why am I next to you?" "Kendra tired." He offered, with a sorta shrug. "Ok...thanks?" The dinosaur swelled up in pride. "Sludge very good at protecting."

My stomach rumbled. "What that noise mean?" "It means I'm hungry, Swoop." I explained. "Swoop go find human food." "No, no!" This was the pencil incident all over again. "I can find it. If you show me where it is?" Thankfully Swoop seemed happy with that idea. "Sure. It that way."

With the help of those incredibly vague directions, I made my way inside the rest of the base. It took a while but I found a place that appeared to be for humans. Without meeting any Autobots along the way. Gathering a few granola bars and some fruit, I discovered, to my delight, a phone! A cell phone, sitting there right in the open on the table. I picked it up, surprised to find my hands shaking. The number gets dialed and I held the phone to my ear, hearing it ring.

"Hello?" I nearly cried. It's my little brother. Alec. "It's Kendra." "Kendra! Where did you go? Mom came home and was crying- What happened?" "What happened was that- " Beep. The phone turned off, the battery dead. I cursed, smashing it back down on the table. I left carrying my scavenged food, heart heavy. How was I going to get home?

* * *

Spike frowned. Something was wrong here... "Carly, I thought that the phone was charged?" "Maybe half-way." He shrugged, picking it up and putting it into his pocket. He reached over for...where had that bag of Cheese Nips gone?

* * *

"Cheese Nips?" "Yep, it's particularly a food group. Like ice-cream. Or chocolate." Here I was, trying to explain junk food to an alien. "Ice-cream?" "For crying out loud…you know what chocolate is, right?" Sludge rumbled. "Carly eat chocolate." Carly? Sounded like a human name. I made a mental note to myself to see if I could find any other humans here. "Has anyone taught you anything about humans?" "Enough."

I sensed some sort of soreness behind that one word. Apparently when Autobots had handed out pop culture info, these guys had missed out on most of it. "Ice-cream is cold, sweet stuff that people eat." "Is it like ice?" Swoop's unexpected question took me off guard. "I guess so. It has ice in it. That's why it's called ice-cream, after all." I decided to insert something I'd been wondering about. "How did you guys find out about human stuff?" "Internet." "Really? That's cool."

I wasn't really surprised. They were like super computers, after all. "Draw more picture?" It seems that word of my talent had gone around the Dinobots, for Sludge to be asking me. "Hold on big guy. I'm still eating." I shook the Cheese Nip bag for emphasis. A few minutes later, the bag was empty. I groaned. Now I would have to show my skills to a _really _big dinosaur.

I drew a quick sketch of Sludge and showed it to my subject. He was quiet, moving a little closer to see better. "Teach Sludge how to draw?"


	6. Chapter 6

Thanks to Vigatus for reviewing! Enjoy the rest of the story!

* * *

**Step 1: Get paper**

"Now, what we need first is some paper." "Paper?" "Yes, paper. The white stuff that I've been drawing on." "Me Swoop find paper!" He flew off in the direction of the base. The flier came back with... "Toilet paper? No, we can't draw on that." "Really? Me have more." He opened up some sorta compartment, spilling out a flood of toilet paper. "Ah, good job?"

* * *

After cleaning up a mess of various paper product (including paper towels and newspaper), Swoop finally came back empty-handed. Or, er, empty-clawed. "Found roll of paper but too big to fly." He explained, wings drooping a bit. "In supply closet." "Me Sludge get paper!" Said Dinobot thumped into to the direction of supply closet. "Whoa, I guess you guys really want to learn how to draw?" "Bored." A head cocked down at me. "Bored? That's sorta a good reason."

* * *

Today was a first. The first time he ever saw a Dinobot, Sludge at that, show an interest in the supply closet. "So, what are you doing?" Sludge looked back at the masked mech, dismissing him with a glance. "Getting paper." "I can see that." The Dinobot knocked the roll of paper over and started rolling it out towards the Dinobot part of the base. Wheeljack scratched his helm, watching Sludge leave. Should he worry about this? Or go back to looking for some water? He bet that Ratchet had some...

* * *

**Step 2: Get paint  
**

"Paper!" "I see that." The roll fell over, unrolling in that motion. Soon the floor was covered in paper. Everywhere. "Oops." "That's...fine." I had no intention of getting killed by either Slag or Grimlock for this mess. "What now?" I looked up at the two bots watching me, waiting for instruction. "We need some sorta paint or something to put on the paper." "Me get paint this time!" Swoop took off. I could only pray that nothing too horrible would happen...who am I kidding, of course something bad would happen.

* * *

Someone had been in the supply closet within the last twenty-four hours. All the signs were there. The twins didn't care, though. They were too busy trying to find a hiding place from Prowl. Neither Sunstreaker nor Sideswipe considered that the culprit of the messy closet would come back. The door was thrown open, revealing Swoop in his mech form. He took no notice of the twins hiding in the back, instead reaching up to grab...cans of paint? As Swoop turned to leave, one of the remaining cans was knocked over. And then another, and another...a domino effect of paint containers. Until one particular one, filled to the brim with purple paint, teetered on the edge. Both Autobots watched it anxiously. For a second, it looked like it would stay where it was.

Then the door slammed shut. It fell, covering the nearest bot in violet. Unfortunately, that happened to be Sunstreaker.

* * *

"Here paint." "Any problems?" I asked, eying the large containers that had been just plopped down in front of me. "Hear 'fragger' really loud from closet. Not sure why." That was before I realized that Swoop was a giant robot ROBOT, not a giant robot dinosaur. "Did I know you could be a robot?" "Mech, not robot." Sludge corrected me. Guessing the application of previous words, I considered the thought that 'fragger' was some kind of swear word. So much for no trouble.

* * *

**Step 3: Decide which way to paint  
**

"Now what you do is, use either some kind of brush, or we can finger-paint." No signs of comprehension. "Finger-paint. Like this." I dipped my hand in and splatted a blood red hand-print on the white paper. "Of course, for you guys, you need some sorta container that you fit your..er..." "Servos." "Is that what you call them? Fit your servos, then." A large bowl suddenly appeared next to me. "Like that. Where did you get that?"

* * *

"Wheeljack! Where did you put that energon container?" The inventor shrugged from where he was in front of the sink. "I gave it to the Dinobots, Ratchet." "What did you do that for!?"

* * *

**Step 4: Pour the paint out **

"Me want yellow." "Okay Swoop. Here you go." I poured out a bright sunshine yellow into the bowl. The robot (mech?) covered a hand (servo?) and made a print of his own, next to my red one, though many times bigger. Click-clang. One quick glance revealed that Sludge had transformed into a mech, to join in the fun.

Before long, the three of us had coated every inch of the paper in paint. Pictures of all sorts, mostly mine, shared space with various prints and splashes. "This fun. Every Dinobot do." Swoop decided. He stood up. "Slag, Snarl, come have fun!" Hooray.

* * *

**Step 5: Get into a fight**

"Look stupid." Slag, of course. He glared at me. "Don't like human." Snarl, on the other hand, had lowered himself to touch a particularly loud splotch of pink. A splotch that happened to be next to where I was standing. With a shriek (not a squeal, a shriek), I jumped away from him, only to knock over a can of blue onto Slag. Silence. Then laughter. "Kendra get you, Slag!" My 'victim' growled, picking up another paint-can. "Take this!" Now a laughing Swoop was green. An all out paint fight began.

As for me? I hid behind the bowl, hoping it would be enough to shelter me from the over-sized paint balls flying through the air.

The fight continued for some time. Enough time that you could no longer see any white on the paper, the mechs participating were coated in several layers of rainbow paint, and the walls would take _hours_ to clean. An errant paint splash made its way to the doorway. Only, now there happened to be someone standing in front of that doorway.

"DINOBOTS!" I peeked over to get a better look at whoever it was. Oh no. Grimlock.

* * *

Anyone could see the disbelief mixed with left-over rage in his optics. Grimlock already just had an unpleasant encounter with Sunstreaker, having been attacked by him. For some reason, the twin had been shouting something about 'slagging Dinobots' and was covered in purple paint. Only a severe bashing and Sideswipe's timely appearance had driven Sunstreaker back.

That wasn't counting the sudden ambush by Ratchet, asking after an energon container of some sort.

The result? A tired, grumpy Grimlock making his way back to Dinobot quarters. Where he was immediately hit by some paint missile. All of the mechs under his command stopped, looking at him a little nervously. A quick sweep of the room revealed that a fight had been going on. A fight involving paint instead of fists.

His optics were drawn to a bowl full of brownish paint wobbling. A human head popped over the edge. Swoop's human had done this? "Swoop..." The Dinobot leader growled a threat.


	7. Chapter 7

Thanks to Waterfront and Vigatus for reviews.

* * *

I was so screwed. Judging by Grimlock's grumbling of Swoop's name, he had correctly assumed that I was cause of all this mess. "Um, sorry Grimlock," I barely made out before Sludge interrupted me. "Not Kendra's fault. Kendra only teach how to paint. Then fight begin. Not her fault."

Everyone looked surprised by that. Except for Swoop. Freaking flier was grinning like crazy. Grimlock shifted back a bit, unsure how to react. "Fine. All still clean up. With human too." Seeing how I was expecting to get squished, that punishment didn't seem too bad.

* * *

All right, I took it back. Scrubbing the walls clean was ten times worse than getting squished into a pancake. At least it would have been quick. It was made even worse by Slag giving me dirty looks every few seconds. Apparently he didn't agree with Sludge's idea that it wasn't my fault. This was going to be a long day...

Several hours later...

Everything was finally cleaned off. The paper rolled up gently into another roll to look at later. The walls cleaner than they were before the paint mess. Only mess left was on the Dinobots themselves. "Do you want me to help?" I offered. Only Swoop took me up on that, judging by the way he perked up. "Kendra clean Swoop." "Outside." I said firmly. "Yes. Outside." I followed him out of the base, out in the middle of a forest. For some reason there was a hose out there. _Don't question it, Kendra. _

It took a couple tries, but eventually I got it working on spraying down Swoop. Most of the paint come off with the first couple sprays, but some of it was stubborn. I sighed. I picked up a sponge, making my way to the closest smear. I pressed down hard, scrubbing to get it off. Swoop, for some reason, started giggling. "Ticklish." He explained between chuckles. "Oh, are you?" I grinned, reminded of Alec's tickle attacks. My smile faded quickly.

The Dinobot noticed. "Kendra sad?" "I miss my brother." I admitted. "You have a brother?" "Yes, a brother. His name is Alec and I really miss him." The flier shifted back and forth. "Swoop sorry." "Excuse me?" "Sorry that took Kendra away from Alec." He clarified. Now was my chance. "Alec misses me too. You could find out where I live and take me home. Then I wouldn't be so sad."

"Will do that." Swoop agreed, but his eyes were...sad? Call me a sucker, but I fell for it. "Maybe just one more day with you guys and then you can come visit whenever you want, Swoop." My suggestion cheered him up so much that when he moved (almost danced, I say) I fell off him. "Ow..."

* * *

Grimlock was confused. He didn't understand the human at all. Or Swoop's apparent trust in her. Or most of all, Sludge standing up for her. The entire situation was perplexing. Even more so, the fact he was starting to admire the little femme's bravery in standing up for herself against beings many times her size.

Said femme walked into the room, arms full of...Autobots equipment. Even stranger, Swoop was right behind her, carrying some more. "Ok, everyone, we are going to play Super Smash Bros. Brawl, got it?" She announced to the Dinobots. "Why." Slag said flatly. "Because it'll be fun. Fun is good." With that, she started setting up what Grimlock now recognized as the Wii system from the Autobot recreation room.

One thing he knew for sure was he liked this human. Even more now since her stand against Slag.

* * *

The opening music played. It was time to teach the Dinobots the joys of video games. _You're killing their brain cells. _I dismissed the thought. I didn't think these guys had ever played before, judging by their curious fiddling with the over-sized controllers. They were boys, and pretty much every boy I knew, including my brother, enjoyed video gaming. They just had to get the hang of it.

"Who do you want to be?" All four of them exchanged glances after seeing what was on the screen. "I'm going to be Pikachu." I moved my cursor over and clicked on it. "What's a Pikachu?" "A yellow mouse that shoots lightning bolts." "I wanna be the pink ball!" Swoop, of course, was the first to volunteer. "I'll be the dragon-turtle." Slag decided. Bowser, of course. Sludge couldn't decide what he wanted so I just picked Link for him. At the last second, before we went to pick a stage to fight on, Swoop accidentally switched characters. "Ha, Swoop pretty girl!" "What pretty girl name?" Swoop questioned. "It's Zelda." "Like name. Zelda. Cool name."

Of course Slag had to butt in. "Human names stupid. Zelda stupid." _That was going a little far. _"Excuse me, at least I don't get the mental image of a piece of crap every time someone says my name." Everyone stopped a second to process the fact that I had just insulted Slag. "Grr. Human pay!" He showed his teeth at me, about to tear me to pieces, I imagined. "You can get revenge on me by beating up my Pikachu. Now let's fight." I said this too calmly, shaking inwardly at the fact that a really big mech seemed ready to kill me. "Unless you're scared?" _Gosh girl, you really have a death wish._

Slag's eyes narrowed. "Slag beat itty bitty yellow mouse in game!" "Game on." Now hopefully to save my butt.

* * *

Laserbeak peeked out of the vent at the Dinobots below. She chirred softly to herself. Spying on the Autobots was _her _job, despite what others might think. Of all the Autobots, the ones that could possibly be the most unpredictable and violent were the Dinobots. No Decepticon could control them, and believe her, Megatron had tried.

On the flip side, the Autobots couldn't control the Dinobots either. The Dinobots fought for the Autobots, mostly because of their creators on said side. But the Autobots didn't outright control them. The Dinobots were independent of all others.

Which left the question of why they were listening to an organic. A puny human female, that Laserbeak had never seen before. Not in the company of Autobots like Chip Chase and Spike. A strange 'teenager', to use human slang, that somehow commanded these beserkers. Even Slag and Grimlock followed her direction. Where did she come from?

Laserbeak winced at a particularly loud triumphant shout. "Pretty lady turn into ninja!" "No fair!" "Ha! I just kicked your butt!" In aftermath of various yells, the Decepticon spy made her getaway.

* * *

After several rounds...

I watched them play more rounds, my back against Sludge. My notebook was opened and I was taking the opportunity to sketch some more Dinobot pictures. This time ones of my own interpretation. I smiled a little as another one of Snarl's and Slag's arguments started up again, this time over the stupidity of each others' characters. Almost absentmindedly, I drew a picture of the pair fighting physically, in their dino forms.

Then added a second one of Grimlock banging their heads together, inspired by Grimlock's shouting at them to get back to "fighting on game." There was more ideas flying around here than anywhere else I had ever been. Especially home. I shifted, made uneasy about the thought that _technically _I had been kidnapped by Swoop. And I was unlikely to ever see these guys again once I returned home. Earlier, I would have been cheering at the thought, only missing Swoop. Now...I would miss them all.

Grimlock, the leader who acted like he didn't care but really did. Sludge, the gentle giant that was incredibly loyal to his comrades. Snarl, whose indifference hid the fact that he didn't really know what he wanted in life. Slag, an aggressive mech who reminded me of what it must be like to have annoying older brother. And Swoop, a highly intelligent guy that was always looking for new possibilities. Someone may ask how I got these conclusions. My answer? I'm an artist! I had also seen similar behavior among Alec's own friends.

One question cycled through my mind. What would Alec think of meeting the Dinobots?


	8. Chapter 8

The Wii was finally turned off by mutual agreement. Mutual agreement that no one wanted to hear Snarl and Slag shouting at each other while fighting onscreen. Not to mention it was late. At night, I mean. Sleep wasn't too hard to reach. I cuddled with Sludge again, curling up against his warm metal body.

The next day...

It was quiet. Quieter that it had been the day before. I ate from the remains of my junk food raid. And I drew. I drew all of the Dinobots, in various poses, in various styles. I drew so much that my pencil became a stub, a first. Everyone else did their own thing. I didn't even see Swoop for a while.

Until suddenly he popped up right in my face. "Stop doing that!" "Swoop sorry." He didn't look too sorry. The flier got right down to business. "Those are Dinobots?" He pointed to one of my chibi sketches of them. "Yep." "Not like the others." "That's because these are called chibis. They're more cartoonized pictures of you guys." He snickered for some reason. "Why are you laughing?" "Just thinking of chibi Megatron." He explained. As far as I knew, Megatron was the Decepticon leader. When would I get the chance to chibize him among Autobots? Correction, Dinobots.

I sat there after Swoop left, doing nothing really. It was sorta nice, just flipping through the pages to look at previous sketches. That was before it got yanked out of my hands. "Hey!" I glared at the culprit. Slag. "Give that back." The Dinobot..._did he smirk at me? Yep, he did. _His smirk grew wider as I get up. "Me Slag win. Human lose."

And with that, he took off. "Is this about the fight between my Pikachu and your Bowser last night? It better not be!"

* * *

Jazz hated meetings. There were extremely boring, for one. It was either Red Alert blathering about holes in security or Prowl giving a boring report. Or Wheeljack and Preceptor giving a presentation.

He was so glad he had games on his visor.

He tuned out by playing Angry Birds as Prowl gave a report on energon supply numbers. No one, least of all the TIC, noticed that the door was slightly open.

* * *

I ran down the corridor, one of many corridors. Everything looked the same here. All orange and eye-blindly bright. Plus some grey. _Where is that Triceratops? Grr, he better not destroy my notebook. _I scanned everything I ran past, trying to find one open door. An open door would most likely mean that Slag had gone that way. I was going to make him pay!

A door at the end of the row caught my eye. It was slightly open, like someone had tried to shut it in a hurry. _Aha! I got you now, Slag!_

The metal door was too heavy for me to push, but luckily the space was just wide enough for me to fit through. What I found on the other side...was not Slag. I stood there and gaped at all of the big robots. None of them Dinobots. I made a small noise, loud enough to have them all turn towards me. Call me stupid, but I didn't think Swoop had told any of other Autobots about me, judging by the looks on their faces.

I opened my mouth and screamed.

* * *

Wheeljack didn't agree with Prowl's numbers. But he would tell him that later. No need to embarrass the Autobot SIC.

He heard a scarping noise on the floor and turned in its direction. Everyone else, he saw, did too. Normally they would have all been too busy talking to hear it. But Prowl was _boring _to listen to, even for Prime. There was a small human frozen on the floor. It wasn't any of the humans that normally wandered the Ark. It was small not-entirely full-grown femme.

There was a moment of complete silence. Then the femme screamed. It was a loud piercing scream, one that Starscream would have been proud of. Loud enough to stop the Autobots for a few moments as they tried to cop with the noise. As they were doing so, the human dived under the mech-sized table, hiding behind a leg. Her scream continued, transforming itself into words. "Curse you, Slag!" Plus a few other curses at said Dinobot.

* * *

I huddled under the table, hoping against hope that they wouldn't be able to reach me. I knew I shouldn't have been scared of them. They were _Autobots, _after all, not Decepticons. But that didn't change the fact that my teeth were chattering, that I had goosebumps all over my arms, and it wasn't because of the cold.

_You should have been scared of the Dinobots. Not the Autobots. They haven't done anything to harm you, while you suffer threats from the Dinobots nearly every minute. _My terror was in due to Autobots, though, not the Dinobots'. Maybe in due to the fact I was trapped in a circle of Autobots with no Dinobots present.

I snapped out of my thoughts in time to see a large servo reaching for me. With a shriek, I backed up even further. Nearly landing myself into another mech's servo. Retreating from both, I started climbing up the closest table leg. No way were they getting me!

* * *

Red Alert watched anxiously. How had a human gotten in here? Wasn't the door supposed to be closed? There was a definite breach right there, that even a human had gotten to a meeting. What if it had been a Decepticon?

He nearly glitched right then and there, seeing the human climbing. Even more so when it stopped and glared at the mechs surrounding it. "Leave me alone, you freaky robots!" "We're not going to hurt you." Optimus said, trying to comfort the small organic. It laughed. "Sure you won't. Where's Grimlock or Swoop? What about Sludge? Snarl's good too but I'll take Slag before any of you." "It knows about the Dinobots!" Red Alert finally burst. "Of course I know about the Dinobots! Now get them!" The last word ended in a screech, and the organic shifted its grip to glare better at Red Alert.

"I think we should get the Dinobots." Wheeljack said. He blinked when everyone turned around to look at him. "What?"


	9. Chapter 9

"What are you thinking, Wheeljack?" "Well, if the human only wants the Dinobots to get her down, shouldn't we get one to grab her?" The inventor reasoned. "That's actually...a really good idea." "Why do you guys look so surprised? I can have good ideas!"

"Someone, go get Swoop. Or any Dinobot you run across. Just hurry." Prime ordered, hating himself as he did so. What if the Dinobots hurt the human? Sure, the human may have been screaming for them, but that didn't mean much with huge, clumsy mechs such as the Dinobots.

* * *

I clutched to my perch with a death grip. I could fall at any moment, but I didn't really want to get down for the Autobots. _I want the Dinobots! Even Slag, curse him. _

They were getting too close, curse them! "Get away from me!" "Why?" One of them, a black-and-white one that sounded vaguely familiar, asked me. He sounded sincerely puzzled. "I asked for Dinobots, not Autobots. You don't look like a Dinobot to me. You seem a lot like an Autobot." "Yes, but I mean why. Why the Dinobots?" He took a step closer but I wasn't really paying attention. Instead my mind was pondering the answer to that question. The _true _answer. _Why do you want the Dinobots?_

I answered, finding the words for the first time. "Because...because while you were fighting a war, for a cause I never knew, I was going to die. You didn't seem to care. Of course, I would have been put on TV, everyone mourning for another human casualty. That's what I would always be. A human casualty, to be forgotten for the mere mistake of stumbling into a dam at the wrong time. But..." I swallowed, self-aware of the fact that I was rambling. _I__t has to be said._

I took a breath to finish it. "But while you were fighting for the 'greater good', someone else picked me up from where I was frozen on the floor. Someone that looked like a dinosaur, for heaven's sake! A dinosaur that tried to get my sketchbook for me, who said sorry when he accidentally tore it, and was _so happy that I said he was ok! _He may have not been fighting, but he was protecting me better than any other Autobot. His name is Swoop."

"Very well. That still doesn't explain the other Dinobots, however." The black-and-white guy, I didn't know if he got it or not. Or if he was really listening to what I was saying. Whatever it was, I didn't care. I just needed to talk, to explain my sudden need for the Dinobots. "The others, they were different, stranger than Swoop. Grimlock, he protects people, Sludge wants to learn more than what's just been given, Snarl watches alone. And Slag is as annoying as heck, just like the way my little brother is sometimes! They're all like my brother Alec! Even Swoop. It's like...family."

I panted, out of breath from my tirade. During said tirade, my hands had grown sweaty. I didn't realize it, until I went to swipe my forehead. My other hand slipped and I was falling! _This fall is going to hurt a lot. No, scratch that, it's going to kill me! __  
_

I landed my butt on a really hard object. _I'm not dead. _Slowly, I looked up to see Swoop in his mech mode, optics glittering. "You really mean that? About all Dinobots?" I attempted to hug his palm, as if in an answer. Slowly, a smile creeps onto Swoop's face. "Me like you Kendra. A lot." "I like you too, Swoop." Sludge nosed his way towards. "What about me Sludge?" "I like you as well." I reassured him, rubbing him gently.

Before any of the shocked Autobots could say a word, Swoop whisked me out of the meeting room. I let out a breath, relieved to be out of there.

* * *

The other Dinobots happened to be waiting outside. "Autobots hurt Kendra?" Grimlock asked. He examined said human carefully, trying to see if she was injured in any way. She giggled and tried to push him away. "I'm all okay, Grimlock! Those Autobots didn't do anything but scare me." She pointed to Slag. "If it wasn't for him over there, I wouldn't be there in the first place." Slag snorted. "Not think human silly enough to go in there." "Whatever. Just give my sketchbook back." Swoop put her back on the ground gently after she looked up at him.

Kendra held her hand out. "Back." With a growl, Slag made his way over and dropped the book on the floor in front of her. "Thank you, Slag." "Human draw pictures for Dinobots now." Snarl unexpectedly spoke up. The girl was taken by surprise, Grimlock could tell by how she stiffened, but her answer was said with a simple smile. "Of course. What do you want me to draw, Snarl?" Snarl shuffled, thinking carefully before making up his mind. "Draw autobots you see."

* * *

My hand ached but at least it was from being put at the service of drawing. I drew every Autobot I had seen, which hadn't been many. From memory, which was _super _hard. I managed, somehow. Only for Snarl to complain when I showed the pictures to him. "That all Autobots you see?" "Yep. There weren't that many." "Then me take you to see more! Autobots know Kendra now." Swoop. Of course.

Before I could protest, he grabbed me and left the Dinobot lair. I clutched my sketchbook, trying to catch my breath after the sudden increase in speed. I didn't think the Autobots would like me very much. Especially me in cahoots with the Dinobots. From what I had gathered, Autobots didn't like Dinobots very much. Maybe I wouldn't be squished...but that didn't mean anything in the company of huge robots.

* * *

"Hmm. So Laserbeak says that this human can control the Dinobots?" Said spy nodded, her master answering. "Yes. Plan: capture human child." "Very well, Soundwave. I will trust you to carry this out. Let no Autobots or other humans know of your presence." Soundwave nodded, already knowing this, having done this longer than humanity's existence. But you don't tell Megatron that. Not even if you're his TIC and Communications Officer.


	10. Chapter 10

"When did the Dinobots get a human?" Sideswipe asked. All optics were on Swoop. The flier was walking around in the rec room, chattering cheerfully to something sitting on his servo. A closer look revealed that 'something' was a human. Not any of the Witwickys or other Autobot human friends, that's for sure.

"Hello." The human gave a small wave to surrounding Bots. "Who are these guys?" She directed the question towards the mech carrying her. Swoop was glad to give her an answer, judging by how he lit up. "Red Sideswipe, yellow look-like Sunstreaker. Black and white short Jazz..." So it went on. The human looked fascinated, for all that she didn't seem to trust any other bot beside her caretaker. That was judging by how her eyes kept on darting back and forth between each new introduction.

_Why is she so scared? _Prowl wondered, certainly not for the first time and not for the last. Her heart-felt explanation may have explained her reasons, or what she thought her reasons were, for hating the Autobots. But it didn't quite explain her care for the Dinobots without fear. Or really why she was so afraid in the first place?

One thing was for sure, her creators were not going to be pleased when they found out where'd she been.

* * *

Later that afternoon...

My parents were not happy when I got home (courtesy the Autobots. They can _turn_ into _cars, _after all.) Not happy at all. Mom even hugged me, which was strange for her. Dad did, too. But the moment I realized what pain I had caused them was when Alec stepped outside. He slowly made his way towards me, gaining speed with each step. Until he raced forward, throwing himself into my arms.

My little baby brother _sobbed_. "I thought you were never going to come home!" Holding him there, I felt my heart melt. My throat closed up. "I'm so sorry." I finally choked out. Right then and there, I made myself a promise. _I won't make Alec cry ever again. Never._ _Not in a million years._

* * *

Of course, the best promises are the ones that always get broken. Without fail, like clockwork. But I can't tell you about that. Not yet.

Instead, after all the hullabaloo, when Alec was calm enough to go inside without hanging on my arm in a death grip, my parents scolded me. Part of it was relief, I knew. But that didn't make me feel any better about it. "What were you thinking!? Putting your life in the hands of crazy alien robots!?" My dad. Of course, I had to be a bit smart back. "Technically, their 'hands' are called 'servos', and they are 'mechs', not robots, thank you very much." "Don't talk back to your father. You should have come back. Not stayed with..._them." _She meant the Autobots, not the Dinobots. My temper flared anyway.

"You don't know _them _at all!" I calmed slightly, enough to say regretfully, "But you're right. I _should _have come back. And I didn't because I made a promise to someone who needed a outside friend. I'm sorry." After that, my parents didn't have much to say. I left for my room, clutching my sketchbook so hard my fingers were white.

Up in my room, late at night...

I nearly swore as another pencil broke in my hand. I tossed the pieces away, to join the others on the carpet. The secret of these shattered pencils was that I was gripping too hard. I was too angry to think of it. _Why can't I draw? _A thought entered into my mind, one so quiet yet attention-catching that I sat up, listening to it. _**Maybe you should go over by the window. The fresh air will help you think**. _Hmm...I couldn't argue with that.

So I went over to the window. I scooted my seat over to it, and attempted to draw again, this time the shadows I could see through the glass panes. I slightly had more success with that, eventually relaxing enough that I was no longer in danger of breaking my pencil. Fine feathery lines revealed the barest of outlines, branches reaching for the Moon, bordered by thick lines that meant the surrounding window. A pleasing enough picture, I thought.

Why, there was even a bird-I looked a little closer, both at the picture and the actual window. There wasn't a bird in the window, only one on paper. _Maybe it's just a weird shadow shape that was made by moving branches. _I shrugged, about to return to my paper, when another thought came. **_Try opening the window. The fresh air will help calm you down. _**I shrugged. _Why not? _It took me a couple tries, but eventually I got the window unstuck and open. As far as it could go.

I returned to my drawing, wind blowing on my face. The breeze feels _so _good. A shadow fell over me. I didn't bother looking up, figuring that it was just a stray tree branch. That is, until something grabbed the back of my shirt. "Aagh!" I twist enough to see a bird-thingy hanging onto me. A metal bird-thingy with a familiar-looking purple symbol on it... "Holy crap!" Decepticons!

_Just my luck. _I thought glumly, as I was carried away, despite my struggles. I attempted to scream, only to find something in my mouth preventing me from be able to. The bird set me down, if you could call it that. It was more like tossing me onto some grass, where I rolled for quite bit. I stopped rolling when I hit something hard and I spat out the weird thing in my mouth. "What is going on here!?"

Something shifted behind me. I turned around, expecting to see the bird again. I froze after seeing what it was, moving out of the shadows. _It's a big...mech. _A red visor glared down at me. "Laserbeak: Well done." The droning voice coming from his mouth was the stuff of nightmares. Nightmares about alien robots kidnapping you in the middle of the night. A nightmare I was living through right now.

My mind went blank with terror. Little ones I could handle. Big ones? Not so much. I screamed, loud and hard, crawling back on my butt away from him. A huge cat came out of the bushes and pinned me down. I felt like a mouse. Even worse, I realized, I was a mouse to these guys. I happily passed out after the cat hissed in my face.

* * *

Hopefully Megatron wouldn't expect too much from this human. For someone who had faced down the Dinobots and _lived_, being terrified out of her wits from running into more Cybertronians seemed out of character. But then, there was no real way of knowing. At least he had completed the mission with little to no mishap. Now time to return to base...he glanced down at the human. How to do that?


End file.
